I'm doing a PhD in archaeology and assyriology (cuneiform writing; Sumerian language), exploring the process of gendering that deities underwent during the 3rd millennium BC. I'm looking into using cognitive science to underpin part of my research into the (re)organization of memory, tradition and ideology that (I think) took place alongside the development of centralised state formation and external memory (writing). I focus in particular on the gender of deities (what exactly is it and how do we understand it?) as opposed to human gender, both from a modern academic standpoint (bias; how to overcome it?) and trying to understand the past.
Are there any books/research/researchers that would be of use to me? Especially on questions of enactive cognition, materiality, gender.
